Traditional Materials
Sometimes the old ways are the best ways and sometimes even the only way. This is particularly the case with work on a 600 year old listed building.
We were recently appointed to carry out some much needed restoration of the St Gregory the Great Church at Rendlesham in Suffolk. This involved rendering to large parts of the exterior of the building and painting the interior.
The terms of the building’s Listing are very clear and require the use of traditional materials which remain the best choice for such old buildings.
Lime mortar was used to recover the exterior walls and this is strengthened in the traditional manner with horse hair. A ‘knot’ of horse hair is blended into the mix and serves improve the structure and longevity of the render.
Stowe are fortunate to have tradesmen who are experienced in this traditional process.
Lime also played a part inside the nave and chancel where we applied a beautiful pink lime wash to the walls.
We had to protect the lime render from the fierce heat of summer using hessian sheeting (another traditional material!) so that it wouldn’t dry out too quickly but the cool of the church interior made a pleasantly cool place to work on the hottest days of the summer of 2018.
